A new act of fraud hits the world of business and finance. It may seem unbelievable but Bernard Madoff has stolen $50 billion with the use of a complex system of hedge funds. This system imitates the Ponzi’s system and if manipulated it can be used to commit multiple fraudulent acts. However this illegal act is unfortunately not fool-proof.
Mr Madoff is an American citizen and 70 years of age – he is a famous trader and businessman but now he finds himself in a cell: he risks incarceration for 20 years and paying $5 million, though the victim’s losses far exceed his fines.
The breadth of this case encompasses banks from many countries including British firms. Here are some news cuttings from the British press:

Bloomberg reports the story and asks where all the money went. “Investigators are still trying to figure out where customers’ money went. Madoff, 70, told his sons last week he had as much as $300 million left, according to an SEC lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan. The agency is looking for additional money that may be recovered for victims, two people said. In a regulatory filing in January, Madoff’s firm listed $17 billion in assets under management”.

The Guardian.co.uk describes this as the worst fraud in history. “Madoff is himself regulated by the FSA, along with his two sons, his brother Peter and six other registered individuals, though his eponymous London-based offshoot. However, Stephen Raven, chief executive of London-based Madoff Securities International, said the firm was “not in any way part of” the New York company caught up in the alleged scam”.

The Timesonline.co.uk reports reports the list of the victims, a list that keeps increasing: Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Santander, the Spanish group that owns Britain’s Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley…